Interactive Digital Multimedia, Spring 2005

FINAL PROJECT

The final project is your opportunity to revisit the central considerations of this course. Either implicitly or explicitly, your final project will participate in a conversation about the power of software to map the subjectivity of the viewer through the viewer's direct interaction, and about the ethical implications of that mapping. The communication (cybernetic) link between the viewer and the machine may appear "under control" by the viewer and yet the very opposite may be more significantly the case... a "reverse-control" of the viewer. The communication link between viewer and machine is an active exchange or transfer-point... of power, of attention, of registration/perception, of affect and emotion.

The final project will be an interactive work authored in either Flash or Director and compiled as a self-contained, executable (.osx) file to be viewed on the Macintosh and as an executable (.exe) file to be viewed on the PC.

1. A final project treatment (one-page description, minimum of 200 words) is due Thursday, April 14.
2. You will show the instructor your work-in-progress (whatever shape it is in) on Tuesday, April 26.
3. You will present and turn in for grading your completed final project on Tuesday, May 3rd .
4. You will include on a non-returnable CD-ROM (or DVD, or multiple CD-ROMs if necessary), a compilation of all projects from this semester. See below for checklist.

Your interactive final project should have an approximate presentation length of 1.5 minute minimum. If you include material from previous exercises or projects, then you must still ADD 1.5 minutes minimum of new material to the final project. Any questions related to the specifics of your own project idea can be worked out in conversation with the instructor no later than the week of April 18th.

There are no minimum number of interactive elements or restrictions as to the type of elements to orchestrate within your final project. You may select any one or combination of the following: vector graphics (made in Flash), scanned-in bitmap images, processed or composited images (2D or 3D, singly or in series), texts, animations, sounds, quicktime videos, etc.

Examples of a final project could include (but are not limited to):

1. nonlinear, interactive storytelling
2. an interactive game
3. critical analysis or mimicry of a software program (e.g., mimickry of Excel software interface in order to "detourne" its structure)
4. interactive animation that develops a fictional character
5. representation or reconstruction of an actual place
6. interactive archive of an actual time period or event
7. a portrait a someone
8. a setting for a text, such as a poem or an essay
9. a setting for a song or other piece of music.
10. an experiment in direct address of the viewer.
11. an installation-based work that involves more than one computer or combination of computer and other physical components.
12. a projection performance work that involves special props or other elements.
13. a project that tests and enacts ideas that are speculative and experimental. It is conceivable that it will not even
    involve conventional software tools such as those we have been using! If you have an idea for this, you
    must consult with the instructor no later than the week of April 18th.

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CD-ROM CONTENTS CHECKLIST:

1. Your final project, including BOTH executable "projector" files (.exe file for the PC and .osx file for the Mac) and any external files such as Quicktime videos.
2. Your final project's "project file", that is the original .dir (Director) or .fla (Flash) file.
3. For the first assignment, "An Unlikely Word Processor", include both executable "projector" files (.exe file for the PC and .osx file for the Mac).
4. Also, for the first assignment, include the original Flash project file (the .fla file that opens within Flash)
5. For the 2nd "generative visual display" assignment using Flash, include both executable "projector" files (.exe file for the PC and .osx file for the Mac).
6. Also, for the "generative visual display" assignment, include the original Flash project file (the .fla file that opens within Flash)
7. For the "narrative" project using Director, include both executable "projector" files (.exe file for the PC and .osx file for the Mac) and any external files such as Quicktime videos..
8. Also, for the "narrative" project, include the Director project file (the .dir file that opens within Director).

Important Note: I will be visiting your website separately to review (1) that the first project assignment is available as a downloadable file for Mac and PC, and (2) that the 2nd assignment is viewable as an .swf file embedded in a webpage. (Reminder: a file with the .swf extension is a Flash file that is viewable in a web-browser.)